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Filipino maid arrested with employer in police swoop on loan sharks

14 August 2018

Employer was arrested at this corner in North Point(source: Wikipedia Commmons)

Police have arrested a Hong Kong
man and his Filipino domestic helper during an anti-loan-sharking operation in
North Point.

A police spokeswoman said the 65-year-old man surnamed
Cheung was arrested at noon on Monday, Aug. 13, by officers of the Regional Anti-Triad Unit of Hong
Kong Island while lending money to two Filipino women, aged 29 and 37, at the
corner of King’s Road and Shu Kuk
Street.

The area is notorious for being a meeting place between loan
sharks and their prey, mainly foreign helpers needing cash.

The spokeswoman said Cheung was arrested for lending money
at excessive interest rates and attempting to manage an unlicensed money
lending business.

A search of the man’s flat, also in North Point, reportedly
led to the arrest of his 41-year-old Filipina maid on suspicion of assisting in
managing an unlicensed money lending business.

Both suspects were reportedly still in custody as of this
writing.

Seized from the flat were several passports, bankbooks,
other documents, a tablet and $100,000 cash.

The spokeswoman said the arrests came during an
anti-loan-sharking operation by police codenamed “Sky Scroller and Thunderbolt
18”.

Records seized reportedly showed Cheung was trying to lend
money to seven people at an interest rate of 120% per annum, twice as much as
the maximum limit of 60%.

The spokeswoman said Cheung had asked for the borrowers’ passports
as collateral.

Other reports said the illicit money lending had been in
operation for two years, and targeted mainly Filipino domestic workers on Hong KongIsland.